Dear all,
First of if you want to enter the Writers’ & Artists’
Yearbook 2016 Short Story Competition then it closes tomorrow so you need to
get a move on! Here’s the link: https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/competitions
Write
On Site
Secondly, I thought
I would share with you the first competition I have ever entered. There is a
really interesting site: http://www.write-invite.com that I came across while searching out
competitions. It’s not a competition in the sense of a big annual event but
rather a weekly league table. The way it works is that (actually, they do offer
more than this so check out their site for other events) every Saturday at
5.30pm (GMT) they announce on their website three topics. You then have thirty
minutes to write a short story based on one of those topics. Entries (this is
all done online) close at 6.00pm exactly so you have to make sure you do all
your checking, read throughs and editing within those 30 minutes. It was really
fun to do (It costs £4 per entry via PayPal or you can get discounts for
multiple entries). As I mentioned in a previous blog post I am trying to
destroy any sense of confidence that may still reside in me in 2016 by entering
as many competitions as I can and overburdening myself. I am working on my
first novel and I have also started selling a self publishing service through
my company Thinking Plainly Limited as well as trying to continue developing a
few other projects that are on the sideline. I know deep down that I am
probably trying to do too much but what is over-riding that is the desire to be
busy and active this year. I really want to get a lot done and I am not too
worried about my personal life, it’s all about writing this year.
Anyway, I think it will be great to
have this weekly competition in my diary. I am going to take it seriously and
only enter it when I am not in the middle of something else so that I can give
it my full attention. For instance, I couldn’t do it yesterday, as there was
the important matter of watching Wales play in the Rugby Six Nations! I may
have timed starting this wrong as there are still a few weeks left of the
tournament…
The other point to make is that I am
not using any pre-prepared ideas. After my first entry below I explain that I
am using notes I have made over the years for other competitions but for this
website every single sentence will come from the imagination set off by the
firing gun of 5.30pm. I really like the idea of having an ‘examination’ style
challenge every week. I am one of those weirdos that sort of misses school.
Yes, sorry. I never actually minded exams and test, I found it a good way to
focus and in a way, I wish I could bring that mentality back for my everyday
writing. Hopefully, this site may help me with that.
So, check out the website and maybe
I’ll see your name on the league table soon enough… I’ll keep sharing my
entries with you, unless of course the unexpected happens and I am short listed
(very unlikely but you never know I guess) in which case I’ll just post a link
to the site and you can check it out there as it’s only fair and right those
are read on the website itself.
For the first week, Saturday 6th
Feb ’16, the subject I picked was, ‘ The Parting’. I’m afraid I can’t remember
the two other subject options but I’ll know to make a note for next time.
The Other Side of the Front Room
"Can
I say hello to granddad?"
"Give
it five minutes," mum said. She wasn't looking at me but could feel the
tugging at her coat. I knew she was listening, although it did annoy me the way
she would still speak to others at the same time. I didn't mind her speaking to
grandma or aunty Paula, but it would only take a second to glance down at me,
you know, break away for like, one second.
"Okay,"
I walked over to the single seat armchair on the other side of the room and sat
down, a bit on the heavy side, to make a point, not a strop exactly, but you know,
enough.
It's
been five minutes and mum's still chatting away to grandma. She hasn't moved
from her seat, still has her coat on and the three carrier bags of shopping in
her hand. Aunty Gemma has joined them so I sort of think I better give up. I
could go and say hello to granddad myself, you know, on my own... but I'm
chicken. I told mum before we came to take me in there straight away, as soon
as we got there, because I knew, I mean seriously, I knew she'd get chatting
otherwise and I'll be stuck on my own and then I'd be nervous the whole
afternoon thinking about when was the right time to go to granddad. Yes, she
said, fine, of course, don't worry... but then we get here and it's the same
old thing, she totally ignores me and forgets what I said.
I
try to catch mum's attention but it's hopeless. They're onto one of the
ex-husbands now. They think they're being clever by not saying a name out loud
but I'm not that stupid, I mean, I know what they're talking about for god's
sake. They'll be ages. I look over to the curtain. It's not a curtain like you
see on a window, you know, a normal curtain that everyone has. This one's
enormous. It's like massive, honestly. It's like the one in my school, in the
big hall. It's red though, not black. It's almost like blood in a way. It's in
the middle of the front room. It's so heavy as well. I get nervous going
through it, that's why I tell mum I want her with me. Granddads on the other
side. That's his side. We're only allowed on this side, grandma's side, but it's
okay to go over and say hello. I really like granddad, he's funny. I know he's
meant to be strict too but I still think he's funny.
"Have
you said hello to grandad yet?" mum comes back in from the kitchen and
looks surprised I'm still sitting. I don't know why she's surprised. I told her
I wanted her to come with me. She just doesn't listen.
"No.
I was waiting for you."
"Well,
he's about to have his tea so hurry up,"
I'm
scared now. She's put me in a panic. I don't want to go.
"I
can wait until after he's had his tea" I say. My voice is so nervous she
must hear it, like you know, feel my nerves or something. She can't be stupid.
"No,
go now. You don't want to disturb his nap." Mum walks out of the room. I
stare at the big curtain. It's like space. When you're up close you can't see
the sides, beginning or end. My hands start to sweat. Then I hear his voice.
"That
you, Bill?"
I'm
so relived I can't tell you.
"Hi
grandad, it's me!" I run up to the curtain and pull the edges open just
enough to squeeze through. I walk through to the other side and give granddad a
huge hug.
Explanation
As soon as I saw the title, ‘The
Parting’, I thought of a big red curtain my grandmother used to have. The rest
of the story was totally made up (that’s the exciting part of writing in test
conditions like this, just going off and seeing what the brain digs up, not
knowing where the next sentence will take you) but all I thought of was the
idea of having a family split (the parting of a relationship, the parting of a
family, the parting of a life spent together) and it being shown in the physical
act of a split room (the physical parting of a room, the physical parting of
your own living space) and seeing if I could match the two together to show the
emotional and physical acts represented by someone only seeing one side, in
this case, the physical curtain. Anyway, as I am more than ready to concede, I
am not a skilled enough writer yet to transform my ideas into prose that
represents what I want to say, yet I am happy enough to know, or rather, be
satisfied by, the ideas appearing to me and to feel I have something to say.
That’s why entering competitions this year is a way for me to test my progress,
not as a way to have affirmation or recognition of my writing, I actually fear
that; rather it is a way to monitor the strength and originality of my ideas
and the way I present them. I’ll share with you my weekly (or post Six Nations
weekly…) entries. Feel free to let me know what you think, all criticism
welcome.
Other
Comps
Another reason I feel it is time to
enter competitions is that I have dozens of little scraps of ideas that now I
am working on the novel I won’t be doing anything with. Rather than leaving
them to rot for a year or more why not make use of them and develop them for
competitions? However, I am setting some strict conditions. I will only spend a
few hours on each one and the word count will be the minimum required, or a max
of approx. 1000 if there are no restrictions. I am not going to divert all of
my attention to them. I see them as a learning tool, to test out some ideas and
develop my skills. I do not have any ambitions to win anything, which sounds
self defeating, yes, but I see it as more of a practical and reality-checking
safety net. I won’t be entering the same story twice. I will be entering a new
work for each competition and that means I will be spending a lot of time on
this so it has to have a purpose and an aim. At the moment, it looks like there
are around four a month I could enter (some months more) so I don’t want it to
overtake all my other work, which if I take them too seriously is a possibility,
yet not taking them seriously enough means I will produce poor work and what
would be the point in that! For me, those purposes and aims will be to learn
and practice more. It is not about winning. So although I can feel the stress
already… it’s in a good way! Once the deadlines have closed and the winners
announced (so that I don’t break any rules) I’ll be sharing my entries with
you.
All the best
everyone, have a great week.
R.G Rankine.
